ESPN's Hannah Storm reveals breast cancer diagnosis

The sports journalism world was rocked this week after a popular ESPN reporter announced a shockingly scary medical diagnosis.

According to PageSix, reporter Hannah Storm, an anchor for the popular SportsCenter show, announced that doctors had discovered breast cancer during a mammogram.

PageSix noted:

The Sportscenter anchor, 61, shared on “Good Morning America” Tuesday that her doctors discovered an early form of breast cancer known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) after she underwent a routine mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy in November 2023.

Storm told host Robin Roberts she was "shocked" to learn of the diagnosis. "I was shocked. I had no risk factors. I have no breast cancer in my family. I did not have a lump. I did not have pain," she said.

ESPN’s Hannah Storm reveals breast cancer battle: ‘I was shocked’ https://t.co/IeFPzNoj6m pic.twitter.com/S055zIH2N2

— New York Post (@nypost) March 19, 2024

According to ESPNFrontRow, Storm recounted the day she learned of the diagnosis.

"Like any other day, I also had a long drive ahead of me: sometimes, it takes me close to two hours to get home, and I usually make phone calls to family and friends. But on this day, an unfamiliar number popped up. It was a call I never thought I would receive," Storm said.

Storm explained that the reason why she was so shocked is that she didn't have any genetic dispositions to the potentially deadly disease.

"I don’t have any genetic predisposition to breast cancer and what I came to learn is the vast majority of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer don’t have risk factors, and so, I gotta say, I was shocked, scared," Storm said.

She expressed relief that doctors were able to find the cancer early on, which provided a range of early treatment options that allowed her to get back to work sooner than later.

"I was able to go back to work, cover the Super Bowl, which was a real blessing," she said.

Storm added, "I’m also taking a drug called tamoxifen that blocks all the estrogen and progesterone, which apparently, my cells feed off of that. I’m taking this for the next three years."

Storm reportedly kept her diagnosis private at first, but eventually decided to share it publicly in the hopes that it would inspire other women to get checked out.

According to the CDC, about 42,000 women and 500 men die each year from breast cancer.